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Political science professor will give winter commencement address

Richard K. Herrmann, Social and Behavioral Sciences Distinguished Professor and chair of Ohio State’s Department of Political Science, has been selected to speak at Ohio State’s winter quarter commencement. Approximately 2,100 students will receive degrees at the ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 18, at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.

A member of Ohio State’s political science faculty since 1981, Herrmann specializes in international relations, security and conflict studies, political psychology, and politics in the Middle East and Russia. He directed the university’s Mershon Center for International Security Studies from 2002-11, and in July 2011 was named chair of the Department of Political Science.

Herrmann has written extensively on international relations, U.S – Russian relations during the Cold War, the politics of the Middle East, and U.S. relations with Iran. He is the author or editor of three books and more than 40 articles in leading journals in the field, including American Political Science Review, International Organization, International Security, and World Politics. He also was co-editor of International Studies Quarterly, the flagship journal of the International Studies Association from 1991-96. Herrmann has been a frequent visitor to the Middle East, lecturing and conducting research in Israel and the West Bank, as well as in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates, and served on Secretary of State James Baker’s Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State from 1989-91.

Herrmann has been recognized with many university awards, including the 2009-10 Arts and Sciences Student Council Outstanding Teaching Award for his courses on international relations foreign policy. He also won the university’s Faculty Award for Distinguished University Service in 2008, recognizing his service as director of the Mershon Center and work in university governance.

A native of Cleveland, Herrmann earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Miami University in 1974, and his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in 1981.

In addition, during the commencement ceremony, Ohio State will award the honorary Doctor of Science to Keith L. Moore of Toronto, Canada, professor emeritus in the Division of Anatomy at the University of Toronto.

The university also will present Distinguished Service Awards to Randall B. Ripley of Pataskala, professor emeritus in the Department of Political Science and former dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science, and Elizabeth J. Watters of Columbus, Magistrate with the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas and two time graduate Ohio State. ###Editors note: A photo of Professor Herrmann is available by contacting murray-goedde.1@osu.edu